Making Up for Lost Time.

As promised, I have been a busy busy bee.  Yesterday was an all day cleaning house event.  I never did get around to organizing my closet, but I accomplished quite a bit.  The kitchen is very clean  now, and the carpet is vacuumed.  I did a cursory cleaning of each bathroom, but will work on them a little bit more this afternoon. Next week I will be able to do a deeper cleaning and touch up work before I host my son’s graduation party.

Right now I am resting.  I am dirty.  I’ve been working in the yard again.  This time I attacked the side yard on the OTHER side of the house.  This is where our carport is.  When we moved here 5 years ago, I built a little planter long side the cement slab and planted ornamental garlics. They used to be full and lush and beautiful, but a month ago they started dying. That’s when we realized the irrigation is broken on this side of the house.  However, the rains over the past few weeks have brought them back to life, and I am watering them by hand until my husband can fix the problem.  As you can see from this picture, they still look scraggly, and there are knee high weeds growing behind the planter in the side yard.

I bought more red mulch last week befor the flu hit me. 5 bags for $10…I love holiday weekend sales at Lowes!  Not sure why red mulch makes me so happy.  Its an easy fix I guess. Anyway, I cleared away the dead growth from the bottom of the garlic plants, spread the mulch, then I got out my trusty flat head shovel and started scraping away the weeds.  I kept saying to myself…this is my happy place.  Its true.  I love fixing and building things.  Creating.  Cleaning out the garbage and replacing it with something fresh and clean.

I mean, c’mon.  So…much…better…

Its also good exercise, I get some sun on my skin, and it keeps my mind active.

There is still so much to do, but I feel good about my progress this week. I’m such a happy camper.

NEXT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MacGyver Who?

Beating my chest this morning.  Yesterday, I was able to not only extend the dog run, but I only spent $40 and it looks SO MUCH BETTER and is much more secure than the old dog run.  Last year, in a huff, (my husband and I were having a spat about the dogs) I ran out and spent $200 on this TERRIBLE dog fencing at Petco. (see below) It came folded up in sections so you could set it up either oblong, or in a circle. It seemed like a clever design, but it was really wobbly and hard to work with.  Since I have mad MacGyver skills, I was able to make something out of it.  THIS YEAR, I went to Lowes and only spent $40 on a roll of deer fencing.  It is very sturdy and much easier to work with.

Anyway, it only took me about an hour or two and the doggies were exploring their new digs. Check out the before and after.

I also love how the deer fencing is so light…its almost invisible.

Still wondering what to do with the picnic table.  I am wanting to garden a bit and thinking it might be cool to put a roll of fake grass underneath the table so the doggies can lay in the shade, and then put some potted plants on top of the table.  Unfortunately, this side of the house gets full sun most of the day in the summer, and any plants I have put out there have burned up in the sun…so I will have to figure out how to get more shade over there. An umbrella might be cool.

OK, now my wheels are turning again…YOU GOTTA LOVE IT!

Its another wonderful Wednesday.  Gotta get the kids out of bed and start my day.

Windy Warm Wednesday.

I love the first few days of the week.  I’m home, I’m with my kids and dogs, I can work on my house.  It’s awesome.

Today we had a pow wow, time for the boys to take on more responsibilities and help out around the house.  Too much sitting in their room, too much computer…not enough activity in their lives.  I told my youngest that the day he went out bowling with his friends was the happiest I had seen him in years.  He came home beaming, he had fun…we was (gasp) SOCIALIZING!  So, its time to start implementing more activities in their lives and learn how to be functioning members of society.

I proposed a business plan.  Something the 3 of us could do together to bring more money into the household and to teach them how to build a business.  Its something we could work on slowly and in our spare time. (Not that I have any spare time, but THEY do). Julian has to concentrate on graduating high school, and Dante is looking for work…but looking forward, I think having a family business is a great idea.

After our meeting we got to work.  Julian took the dogs for a walk and did a little art project for me. (More on that later) Dante and I worked on the yard, did a few repairs and then he made us all lunch.

Cooperation rocks.

Two weeks ago, I posted my intention of working on the wood pile beside the house.  Little by little Dante chipped away at it and today I went out and finished it off.  The side yard looks great now. Ironically, since the wood pile has been dismantled I have not caught any rats or mice in my zapper…aaahhhhhhh!!!!!!

 

This morning a can of 7-up mysteriously fell out of its box in the pantry and exploded. Upon cleaning up the mess, that’s when I realized my kitchen is in need of some serious revamping.  So I got a wild hair to organize my pantry and another cabinet. I was excited to find some items that had been stashed away for years that I could repurpose and reuse for storage and decor.

        

OK, this one’s pretty embarrassing…even my cat is saying, REALLY? WHO LIVES LIKE THIS?

         

Here are a few ways I repurposed items I rescued from the cabinet of doom…

Dish drainer:

Placemats and dishes displayed on the kitchen table:

Tall cylindrical vases now used to store pasta and rice, looks cute in my kitchen!

I cut out a few cardboard discs and asked Julian to doodle a picture on each one (that was his art project for today).  These fit right inside the cylinders to protect the pasta from dust, bugs, etc…(it would be cool to find some cork eventually)

Here’s a photo of our lunch too.  Pita flat bread pizzas. Easy peasy and SO YUMMY!

I still have a few more projects I’d like to tackle today, but it feels good to sit and enjoy my couch for awhile.  And it REALLY felt good to spend some time with my kids and get some work done around the house.  My wheels are turning…what can we do NEXT WEEK?

Dirt Farmer.

Today I put on my big girl panties and went out to tackle the world. OK, not the world, but the side and back yard. Those dried up, stubborn, gnarled weeds have been taunting me for months.  Even when they die they still hang around until I physically go and knock them down. BASTARDS!

So I ate an early lunch.  Leftover beef stew.  Protein…yum (gonna need it)

 and then I got to work.

There’s not much I can say that would be real impressive.  Basically I pulled my flat head shovel and metal rake out of the garage and started scraping dirt. All the time listening to my inner crazy person repeat over and over “I’m a dirt farmer, I’m a dirt farmer”.

  (My friends today).

So, I know…weeds are brown and dirt is brown…so these before and after pics don’t show an impressive make-over…but I feel A LOT better.  I hate weeds. I really really hate them.

   

  

Next week the boys and I will be tackling this ugly wood pile.  It must go.

God knows what is living in there.

I noticed something wonderful as I raked underneath our (sad) citrus tree.  (I call it sad because it has never produced a recognizable piece of fruit in the 5 years we have lived here. I’m a dirt farmer, I’m a dirt farmer…)  My son always said it was a meyer lemon tree, but I thought is was an orange tree.  Son wins the argument…lo and behold, hanging on the bottom branches were three GIANT lemons. Wow! I can’t believe we actually grew something that the squirrels didn’t eat.  diiiiirrrrrt farrrrmerrrrr

Thinking I could really write a song, but I won’t make the hook EEE AIY EEE AIY OH.

Spring.

Nothing says Spring like a sale on red mulch at Lowe’s.

I now read all my store ads that come in the mail.  Last week I got one for Lowe’s along with my grocery store ads.  I usually never read them, but I took a moment to ponder the Home Improvement mailer…there it was… a SALE on mulch.  5 bags for $10, that’s about half price. YAY!  I L-O-V-E red mulch, (bark chips)…they really make all your greenery pop and add a very clean look to any landscape project.  I ran down to Lowe’s yesterday and bought 10 bags…BAM…$20…no problem!

We are having guests this weekend. Realtors.  They are all about “curb appeal”, and right now…my curb appeal SUCKS!  We have weeds growing EVERYWHERE, and despite our spraying every week, they just keep coming.  So I knew today I would have to get out there and do some manual labor.  No problem…I need the exercise and sunshine, PLUS the weather is gorgeous…and I think it would really help my outlook on life.

My day did not disappoint.  Here are some before and after pics of my work.

 

 

Anyway, its been a long day and I’m tired…just wanted to post a few pics of my day.

We have all the windows open in the house and the birds are chirp, chirp, chirping away.  I get to sleep tonight with sun on my skin and a few very tired bones…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz